Automated conveyor systems are used in a variety of applications to transport material. The material is typically loaded onto the conveyor using automated equipment which controls the flow of the material. Automated equipment is also used to remove the material at the exit point, with the conveyor and/or removal equipment being designed to allow several articles to accumulate near the contact point while preventing collisions between adjacent material units. With some applications, including semiconductor processing, the material must be temporarily moved from the conveyor to a work station at one or more locations along the conveyor path. The material is later returned to the conveyor, which then transports the material to the next work station or the exit point. Moving the material between the conveyor and work stations along the path can be complicated as care must be taken to ensure the transfer is accomplished without significantly interrupting the flow of material on the conveyor. A system for efficiently and conveniently transferring material between a conveyor system and a work station, without interfering with conveyor material flow, is desirable.
One example of a field in which material is temporarily removed from the conveyor at intermediate locations is the field of semiconductor processing. In this field, a conveyor may be used to transport semiconductor wafers or other substrates to several different processing machines or to transport reticles from a stocker to a stepper. The material (i.e., the wafers or reticles) must be transferred to the machine for processing and, after processing has been completed, returned to the conveyor for delivery to the next processing machine. The material is typically retained in a protective container such as a sealed transport pod to minimize any exposure of the substrates to the environment outside of the processing machines and protect the material against particulate contamination. The entrance of each processing machine is provided with a load port designed to automatically remove the material from the transport pod in a protected environment. During operation of the facility, material must be frequently moved between the load port and conveyor.
Typically, the semiconductor manufacturing facility is organized into a plurality of bays each including several processing machines. Various systems (called intra-bay transport systems) are employed to move the material between the machines within a bay. For example, many systems rely upon human workers to transfer the material from port to port using a cart. The worker typically actuates a manual robotic link or other lifting device to move the material to the port and, after processing has been completed, to return the transport pod to the cart. The process is repeated at the next machine. Another system of intra-bay transport relies upon automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) which carry the pods between the machines and automatically move the pods into the load port. The cart and AGV lack the advantages associated with an automated conveyor, which can efficiently and rapidly move articles along a conveyor path and has much higher capacity than the cart and AGV.
Semiconductor wafers are delicate and, particularly in the later stages of processing, quite valuable. Integrated circuits are manufactured by forming a plurality of layers on a semiconductor wafer or other substrate. With advances in technology, integrated circuits have become increasingly complex and typically include multiple layers of intricate wiring. The number of integrated circuits positioned on a single wafer has increased due to the decreasing size of the integrated circuits. The standard size of the semiconductor wafers will increase from 200 mm to 300 mm in the next few years, further increasing the number of integrated circuits which may be formed on a single wafer. As a result of the increased complexity and decreased size of the integrated circuits, the value of the semiconductor wafer increases substantially as the wafer progresses through the various processing stages. Also, the increased weight of a pod of 300 mm wafers creates ergonomic problems in manual wafer handling. Thus, considerable care must be taken in handling the semiconductor wafers, particularly during the later processing stages, since damaged wafers could result in considerable monetary losses. The requirement of a clean room environment, substantially free of particulate contamination, for processing the wafers places further restraints on the systems which may be used to transfer the material. A system for transferring material between a conveyor and load port which is suitable for operation in a clean room environment is desirable.
A transfer system for moving material, such as semiconductor wafers, transport pods carrying semiconductor wafers, or other containers, between a conveyor and a load port or other work station is desirable. A transfer system which may be used in fields other than semiconductor processing, including but not limited to pharmaceuticals, medical systems, flat panel displays and computer hardware, such as disc drive systems, modems and the like, is also desirable.
The movement of material in a conveyor-based transfer system is often managed by an automated control system (ACS). For example, one such system is employed in the baggage handling system at Denver International Airport. Another such system is employed by the US Postal Service to control the conveyance of mail trays in the Processing and Distribution Center in Carol Stream, Ill. (for more information, refer to "U.S. Postal Facility Improves Operation with Honeywell's Smart Distributed System," available at http://www.honeywell.com/sensing/pressrel/9718.stm). An ACS has also been employed in at least one conveyor-based transfer system used in semiconductor manufacturing operations to manage the movement of pods of wafers.
In contrast with the post-office and baggage examples, an ACS for a conveyor-based transfer system used in semiconductor manufacturing operations must ensure that the pods of wafers being transferred never collide and are not subjected to excessive acceleration. Additionally, the ACS must assure timely deliver pods of wafers from one processing station to another. One such prior art ACS, the "Asyst Automation Control System", shown in FIG. 1, works with a transfer system that conveys pods or open casettes of wafers between and within processing bays. This transfer system includes track on which the material moves, directors, which are electromechanical units that provide rotation between track segments that meet at an angle, and elevators, which are electromechanical units that raise or lower a pod. The track includes a number of motors used to move the material and sensors that sense the location of the material.
Referring to FIG. 1, the Asyst Automation Control System includes multiple PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers), each of which controls the movement of one or more pods in a respective region of the transfer system in accordance with system goals. Each PLC is coupled via a ProfiBus to the sensors and motors that compose its respective region of the track. The ProfiBus is a sensor bus, meaning that it is only used to transfer signals between a smart controller (the PLCs) and clients (motors, sensors, directors, elevators, etc.) with no autonomy. The PLCs are interconnected, enabling them to share information about pod movement and location. The number of sensors and motors that can be controlled by a PLC is limited. This is because PLCs are polling devices that work in scans. For each scan a PLC reads every one of its associated sensors. Therefore, the more the sensors, the longer the scan time, and the fewer scans pers second, resulting in a less responsive system. One additional problem with this architecture is that the PLC must know the control interfaces of each of its associated devices. As a result, a PLC needs to be modified whenever new sensor or motor interfaces are added to the transfer system. Another problem is that a PLC is simultaneously concerned with high-level control issues, such as moving a pod to its destination without collisions, and low level issues, such as accelerating a motor. As a result, PLC computing power becomes a key factor in the performance of the transfer system. Both problems are also a hindrance to transfer system scalability and reconfiguration.
Therefore, a transport system ACS that is scalable, efficiently employs computer resources so that high level and low level control operations are not in conflict and easily supports new types of the motors, electromechanical components and sensors would be desirable.